Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (17 page)

8

Jenn Silvers was the most beautiful woman Matthew had ever seen. His brother had had plenty to say about Jenn’s horse training talents and business acumen, but somehow he’d left out the fact she had ravishing chestnut brown curls that fell to the middle of her back, and quick eyes that flashed with humor and intelligence, and an infectious laugh, and the cutest little butt.

“I’m sorry, what?” The beautiful little horse trainer was looking at him, and it was clear she’d asked him a question.

“What do you think about this little colt your brother’s trying to give me?” Jenn asked with a smile. Charlie’s brother was cute – obviously the older brother, with some silver flecks streaked through his strawberry blond curls – and he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

Matthew shrugged. “I’ve got to be honest with you. I know less than nothing about horses.”

She looked both shocked and a little disappointed, which made Matthew feel he had to explain himself. “I mean, I know what end the hay goes in and which end it comes out.”

Jenn laughed. “And in your opinion, is this colt got the in-out procedure down pat?”

“I’ve shoveled plenty of evidence that supports that, yes,” Matthew said. He smiled, enjoying the way that Jenn was looking at him. “I can give you my word that this horse knows what he’s doing on that front.”

“Well, now I’m absolutely convinced,” Jenn said. She turned to Charlie and stuck out her hand. “It sounds like we’ve got a deal. I’ll take the colt.”

“I think you’ll be glad you did,” Charlie said. “He’s got nice lines and a nicer attitude. Definitely nicer than we need him to be, anyway.”

“He’s a good looking horse,” Jenn said, looking again at the pictures stored on Charlie’s phone. “I think this is going to work out just fine.”

“We’ll bring him out tomorrow morning,” Charlie said. “If that works for you.”

“As long as you bring big brother with you,” Jenn said, walking away but giving Matthew a blatantly flirtatious glance over her shoulder, “it’s going to work for me.”

“Dude,” Charlie said. “She is so into you.”

Matthew blushed. “You’re imagining things.” He looked out the truck window at the rolling Texas countryside. In his heart, he hoped his brother was right. Jenn was a beautiful woman, and he’d thought he’d seen at least a flicker of interest in her gorgeous eyes. But he wasn’t about to let himself hope.

“No, I’m not.”  Charlie reached over and punched his brother in the shoulder. “What were you saying this morning? That no woman would ever be interested in you? And you’ve gone on exactly one job with me since coming to the ranch, and what happens?”

“Nothing actually happened,” Matthew said.

“Bring big brother with you happened!” Charlie exclaimed. “How much more of a sign do you need, man? Jenn Silver is interested in you.”

“She is a good looking woman,” Matthew admitted. He could feel himself blushing. “Really pretty.”

“Damn right she is,” Charlie said. And she’s much nicer than Amy ever thought about saying, he thought, but didn’t say.

They met Freddie and Sean out along the road. The pair of hands were walking Blackberry and Vinnie, two of the breeding mares, back toward the ranch.

“What happened here?” Charlie asked, drawing his truck to a stop and rolling down the window. “How’d these girls get out?”

“I don’t really know yet,” said Freddie. He nodded toward Blackberry. “If it was just her, I’d say maybe she jumped a low point in the fence somewhere.” Then he gestured toward Vinnie. “But that old lady isn’t hopping any rails.”

“You’re right,” Charlie said. “But if the fence was all the way down, we’d see a lot more horses out and about.”

Sean shook his head. “We did a count. Everybody’s accounted for and all the gates are closed.” He looked confused. “It’s almost like someone deliberately let these two out to go for a walk. But who would do such a thing?”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said. “Hopefully that’s not the case. Maybe Miss Vinnie got a touch of spring fever and jumped the fence for old time’s sake.” He set his jaw. “But if something else is going on, I’m going to find out about it. And I’m going to make it stop.”

“We’ve got this,” Freddie said. “Why don’t you go on up to the barn and make sure everybody’s still there?”

“You’ve got your radio?” Charlie asked.

The ranch hand nodded. “Of course.”

“I’ll do that then. If anybody’s missing, I’ll give you a holler.” Charlie shook his head. “Maybe this is just a freak thing.” He realized he didn’t believe that. Something was just not right about this scenario, but he didn’t know what it was.  “A once in a lifetime sort of thing.”

“Maybe,” Freddie said. Charlie knew the hand didn’t believe that either. “We’ll be up there in just a few minutes.”

“All right.” When Charlie put the truck in gear, the tires jumped, sending a spray of gravel out behind him. Matthew gave him a look. “You all right, bro?”

Charlie shook his head. “Something’s wrong. To have those two horses be out…that’s not right.” Charlie knew he didn’t know his own herd as well as Freddie did, but he was certain the hand was correct in his assessment of Vinnie. That mare was almost twenty years old. Her get up and go had gotten up and went a while ago. They were keeping her as much for sentimental reasons as for the fact there were no buyers for a bred out rough stock mare.

“Maybe Sean or Freddie left a gate open?” Matthew suggested. “And they just don’t want to own up to it?”

“I don’t think so,” Charlie said. “I mean, sure, they could have left the gate open, but if that was the case?” He chewed on his bottom lip, pondering the possibility. “It could have happened, but they would have told me what happened.”

Matthew nodded. “You know the type of guys they are,” he said. He squinted, peering through the hazy afternoon toward the barn. “Whose truck is that?” he asked.

There was a silver full sized Dodge parked near the barn, with its nose almost inside the doorway. “I don’t really know,” Charlie said, pulling up behind the truck. He put his truck in park and opened the door. “But I’m about to find that out.”

Matthew got out of the truck and walked around the front while his brother ran up and checked the registration on the Dodge. “There’s no name on it,” Charlie reported, “but it’s got a Sunnyside address.” He looked puzzled. “Who the hell do I know in Sunnyside?”

Matthew felt sick. “It’s not who you know in Sunnyside,” he said, feeling fear and horror flood through his system. “It’s who in Sunnyside knows you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Matthew?” Charlie demanded.

“Big Jesus – that kid you got arrested last year?” Matthew said. “He was inside with me. I thought he wasn’t supposed to get out for a while yet.”

“And this is his truck?” Charlie yelped.

Matthew shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is he was from Sunnyside.”

9

              “Ada?” Charlie called as he opened the front door. “Honey, are you all right?” He’d sent Matthew around to come in through the back door, after forcing his brother to take the extra pistol from his truck’s glove box.

              “Man, I’m not supposed to have this,” Matthew had protested. “If I get caught with this, they’re going to throw me back inside quicker than shit.”

              “If you get caught without out, there’s no guarantee this fucker won’t just shoot you between the eyes,” Charlie said. “We’ll worry about the legal end of things later.” He sighed. “Damn, I wish David was here.” Having his younger brother’s military expertise would have been tremendously helpful.

              “Well, he’s not,” Matthew said. He took a deep breath and the gun before giving Charlie a quick smile. “We’re just going to have to improvise.”

              Now Charlie was making his way down the front hallway. Ada hadn’t answered his call. That really wasn’t like her. Unless his wife was deeply engrossed in her work or Skype-calling with her parents, she’d answer Charlie almost instantly most times.

              He looked in the front room. Ada wasn’t in there. Nothing appeared to be disturbed or out of place. The same couldn’t be said for the kitchen. Multiple cupboard doors were hanging open, drawers were pulled out, the refrigerator stood open with all of its contents revealed.

              “What the hell?” Charlie asked. “What the hell happened in here?” He looked around frantically. There were no signs of physical struggle; no chairs were smashed and there weren’t any broken dishes. He didn’t see any blood.

              “Okay, okay,” he said to himself, willing himself to stay calm. “Maybe Ada’s down the hall here.” The bathroom was clear. Charlie was checking the office where he kept all the ranch’s paperwork and records when he heard Matthew shout.

              “Charlie! You’d better come here.”

              Matthew was standing in the doorway of the screen room that adjoined the back porch. It was a space Charlie and Ada used to unwind; it doubled as a guest bedroom when they had a houseful and the weather was fine.

              “What is it?” Charlie said, rushing to his brother’s side.

              “Ada’s in here, bro,” Matthew said, speaking softly and calmly. “And she’s really not alone.”

              Charlie peered through the door to see his wife sharing a couch with the big Hispanic guy he’d fought with last year. They both looked pretty drunk; there was an empty bottle of tequila on the floor and a half empty bottle on the cushion between them.

              “Oh, there you are, honey,” Ada slurred. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

              “Come on out of there, babe,” Charlie said, holding out his hand. “I really need to get you out of there.”

              “Not so fast,” Big Jesus said. He was very drunk. All his words came out together, in a long, slow slur. He waved his right hand in the air. He was holding a tiny 22 pistol in it. “I came out here to shoot your sorry ass.”

              “You’re not going to do that,” Ada protested. “You promised me you weren’t going to shoot Charlie.”

              Big Jesus rolled his eyes. “I promised you I’d think about not shooting him. I thought about it.” He shrugged his massive shoulders and pointed the gun vaguely toward the doorway. “But yeah, I’m gonna shoot him.’

              He pulled the trigger. Charlie heard Ada scream at the same time Matthew pushed him to the ground. The bullet whizzed over his head and hit the door jamb, sending wood splintering in every direction.

              “You did not bring this bull shit to my yard,” he heard Matthew shout. His brother was running toward Big Jesus. There was a big crash, another gun shot, and then there was no noise at all.

              Charlie pushed himself to his feet. Ada was scrambling toward him, her arms extended. “Baby! Are you all right?”

              He stood up and embraced her briefly. “Thank God you’re all right,” he said. The couch Ada had been sharing with Big Jesus had been tipped completely over; he could see his brother’s boots were entangled with the massive felon’s sneakers. “Matthew? Talk to me, bro.”

              “I’m hit,” Matthew moaned. “He shot me right in the shoulder.”

              Charlie rushed over. Big Jesus was out cold, having smacked the back of his head against the hard stone floor. Matthew’s right shoulder was a crimson blossom of blood. “Holy shit!” Charlie exclaimed. “You need an ambulance!”

              “On it,” Ada said. She had her cell phone to her ear. “You’d better get that big son of a bitch tied up before he wakes up,” she added. “Because now we’re completely out of tequila, and I don’t know if I can keep him calm without it.”

10

              Attempted murder is big news in a small town. Charlie, Ada and Matthew found themselves the center of attention as the media came in to tell the story of a brave woman who fended off a vengeful felon with nothing more than some fast talking and a bottle of tequila.

              “Obviously, this whole encounter has been terrifying,” the CNN anchor asked Ada. “But have you been able to identify any positives?”

              Ada smiled. “Of course, the fact that my husband and brother in law survived this encounter without being seriously hurt is the biggest positive. I’m glad I made it through all right.” She smiled the smile that had melted Charlie’s heart the first time he ever saw it. “And the Patron company sent us a case of Tequila to replace the bottle that was…lost. That’s pretty neat.”

              There was another positive outcome related to Big Jesus’ assault on their ranch, but Ada didn’t feel the need to share that with the national TV audience. It had to do with her brother in law’s burgeoning new romance with Jenn Silver, the horse trainer.

              Jenn had heard about the break-in from the local news. She immediately drove out to the ranch to see Charlie, Ada, and Matthew.

              “I should have known something was wrong when you didn’t show up in the morning with that colt,” she said to Charlie. “I figured that wasn’t like y’all.”

              “My god,” he said. “I totally forgot we were even going to do that.”

              Jenn laughed. “Well, you’ve been a little busy. I think I can forgive you, all things considered.” She stepped over to Matthew and looked him in the eye. “What I want to know is what were you thinking?”

              He shrugged, gingerly. “I don’t know that I was thinking anything, really.” Matthew had replayed the critical moment in his mind time and time again. He couldn’t pinpoint what had led him to act so recklessly. It might have been the fear of something happening to Ada, or a pure rage reflex caused by being shot at. Matthew wasn’t sure. “It just happened.”

              “Well,” Jenn said, going up on tip toe to give Matthew a quick kiss on the lips. “You’d better make sure nothing else just happens before you get a chance to take me dancing.”

              Matthew blushed scarlet. “I’m not much of a dancer,” he confessed.

              “That’s all right,” Jenn said, winking before she walked away to further discuss the day’s events with Ada. “I’m not either. We’ll figure out something else to do.”